This invention relates to a storage stand for compact discs and other recorded media, and in particular to such a stand that permits selected media containers to be displayed so that printed material located on their face can be seen.
Stands for storing recorded media are legion. However, most recorded media has colorful printed material on its cover and the prior art stands do not provide a satisfactory way to display this material. Those stands which do provide for the display of printed material do so merely by storing the media containers in a vertical orientation and making the cover of the first container visible. Some of these devices, such as Harvey, U.S. Pat. No. 3,254,927 and Wooster, U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,530, make a particular effort to display the printed material on the cover of the first media container in the stand. Those prior art stands which display the cover of the first media container do not support the media containers discretely, however, but merely place them in a stack. Thus, it is difficult to locate a particular item and remove it from the stand. Conversely, those prior art stands which do support the media containers discretely, do not provide a systematic way to display the covers of selected containers.
The subject invention overcomes the foregoing shortcomings of the prior art by providing a storage stand having a rack that is configured to hold a plurality of media containers, with each set of one or more containers being individually supported. The stand has one or more openings through which containers are inserted into or removed from the rack. Slots located in the stand adjacent to the openings are arranged to receive the media containers and support them such that they cover the openings and their printed material is visible. The slots open out of the device to facilitate insertion and removal of the media containers. Thus, containers are displayed independently of the rack, and, therefore, do not require any specific rack configuration. In addition, the media container being displayed can be changed easily.
In a preferred embodiment, the opening is covered by a door that must be opened to insert or remove containers from the rack. In this embodiment, the door has a window through which the printed material is visible.
The stand can include multiple racks, and generally an opening will be associated with each rack. Additional windows may also be located in the body of the support stand case. One door may have multiple windows and cover multiple racks. In addition, a single slot can service two side-by-side openings or windows.
In one embodiment the racks are divided into pairs with one rack in each pair being located in the door and the other being located in the case. In another embodiment, the racks are in a drawer which slides in and out of the case, and the windows are located in the drawer front.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the subject invention to provide a display and storage stand for recorded media containers having a rack which discretely supports individual containers, and a separate location for displaying printed material located on the cover of one or more of the containers.
It is a further object to provide such stand in which the cover is displayed.
The foregoing and other objectives, features and advantages of the present invention will be more readily understood upon consideration of the following detailed description of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.